Conf/CfP - Biblical Poetry: The Legacy of the Psalms in Late Antiquity and Byzantium​, 23-24 April 2020, Belgium

The Psalms, in their Greek Septuagint translation, were a fundamental corpus of biblical poetry, and as such were continuously referred to in Christian literature. They played a key role in the daily life and in the development of religious sensitivity of late antique and Byzantine people. The production of Psalm-related literature, notably exegetic, was impressively widespread. The Psalms, however, influenced other genres of religious literature as well, and their poetical nature remained an important feature that later authors were well aware of.

In preparation of a volume on the reception of the Psalms in poetry from Late Antiquity and Byzantium, we invite scholars of all levels of experience to present a paper at a colloquium on this subject.

Confirmed speakers are Andrew Faulkner, Antonia Giannouli, Christian Høgel and Maria Ypsilanti.

We welcome contributions on the following topics especially:

• the appreciation of the Psalter’s poetical nature in exegesis and in the biblical manuscript tradition (e.g. recognition, by patristic and Byzantine exegetes, of the presence or absence of poetical features);
• rhetorical aspects of the Psalms as highlighted in late antique and Byzantine treatises;
• the influence of the Psalms on Byzantine poetry (e.g. what was their role in the composition of eis heauton poems? How does self-expression in Christian poetry relate to the Psalms?);
• the reception of the Psalms in hymnographic poetry;
• the reception of the Psalter in specific genres of poetry, such as Byzantine catanyctic poetry;
• the metrical metaphrases by ps-Apollinaris and Manuel Philes;
• metrical paratexts on the Psalms.

These examples are not exclusive and papers on other related topics are welcome.

For more information click "LINK TO ORIGINAL" below.